A really rather fantastic phone which sets the bar for 2017 very high indeed. It's super expensive, but it's packed with amazing technology and the overall package is highly rewarding to use. Best of all it has unbelievable battery stamina

Best battery life on the market; Gorgeously curved, premium-grade metal and glass design; water and dust proof; lightning-fast processing power; well-optimized and polished software package; superb camera and display; great audio quality

UI has some missing bits and gimmicks; fingerprint scanner placement not left-hand friendly; lacks higher-tier onboard storage (128GB) model; gorgeous curved glass design can be tricky to hold and may be fragile - a case is recommended, which sort of diminishes the aesthetics

The Galaxy S8 Plus is the Android phone you want if you like big and tall smartphones. The amazing display, great camera and slick software should make you forget about the awkwardly placed fingerprint scanner and the half-bake Bixby assistant.

Big screen; acceptable phone size; Best camera on a smartphone; Slick software and performance

Your most expensive phone yet; Flawed fingerprint sensor; Hello; Bixby? Hello?

Samsung has finally managed to leave its smartphone rivals far behind in the design segment. With the new Galaxy S8 flagships, the Korean tech giant has shown the world its prowess with respect to how smartphone technology can be powerful, and yet remain beautiful.

Another highlight of the S8+ is Bixby, a digital assistant much like Siri and Google Now. You launch Bixby by pressing the button below the volume rocker. Once activated, the phone launches Bixby Home , where a number of cards will be displayed.

Gorgeous design with enormous dual curved display in a small body; Excellent camera; Great benchmark performance; IP68 build; Iris scanning; Edge panel functions on both S8 and S8

Awkwardly positioned fingerprint scanner; Bixby is still a work in progress; Pretty expensive

I've only had the phone just a little over a month and the screen is already cracked despite having it in a protective case. It fell off my knee onto the wood floor in my home, faced down. I was told that the cracked screen is not covered by the warranty.

Great camera

Easy to use

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus continue Samsung's recent penchant of combining outstanding smartphone design with an excellent display to create an all-around fantastic experience.

Incredible & comfortable design Outstanding Super AMOLED display Fast performance Good all-round camera Bixby Voice Assistant has potential Best in class in-box headphones Acceptable battery life Front-facing camera has autofocus Plenty of customization options

Odd fingerprint sensor location Bixby is limited and needs work No major improvements to the camera Iris recognition is hit and miss Bottom-firing speaker is average at best

Samsung's Galaxy S8 Plus is an excellent smartphone, which does not reveal any serious weaknesses. The new and almost bezel-less design already looks great on pictures, but it is even more impressive when you hold it in the hand.

great display; nice design; fast SoC; very good GPS performance; fast Wi-Fi; Gigabit LTE; good voice quality; comprehensive sensor equipment; USB 3.1 with DP; HDMI; and OTG; long battery runtime; Quick-charge and wireless charging; water and dust-proof; very good camera

…but unfortunately not much improved over the predecessor; no dual-SIM; could support more LTE bands; bad position of the fingerprint scanner; SoC throttling under sustained workloads; warranty does not cover water damage

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus brings flagship class design and is finally a phone that doesn't look like all others. If that piques your interest, then this is the phone you should buy. It's one of the best smartphones out there today, but an incremental update in everything except design.

Beautiful design; Excellent camera; Great display; Waterproof

Battery life could be better; Fingerprint sensor is tough to reach

Samsung has once again produced an excellent flagship phone, and I’m sure it’s a handset that nearly every phone buyer will be considering throughout 2017. It features a fantastic range of hardware and some decent updates to the software, plus the most beautiful phone design I’ve ever seen and...

The most beautiful, futuristic phone I’ve ever seen; Enormous, vibrant display without being cumbersome; Great performance and battery life; Camera still stacks up favorably despite lack of hardware upgrade

The most fragile phone ever made; Dumb fingerprint sensor position; Exynos version loves to throttle; Bixby isn’t anything special; Expensive

In essence, the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is the same phone as the S8, with all the things that make that phone great, but with a bigger screen, a bigger battery, a more unwieldy profile and a higher price. Is it any better, though?